"Is this going to take long? I want to see Jasper when he arrives at the house."
"Your beast can wait. This is important!"
Blair sighed as George continued to drag her down the cobblestone alley, Fred marching up front with his head held high and sporting his brand new dragon skin coat. Diagon Alley was buzzing regardless of the fact that it was still during the school semester. Adult witches and wizards carried their purchases up and down the path, chattering among themselves with their wands in hand for a quick apparition away. Blair had been pulled out of her temporary bed in Ginny's room at The Burrow by George, the boy insisting that she needed to get dressed and be downstairs in ten minutes. She had complained and asked Molly what the rush was, only to have the woman shake her head and walk out of the kitchen to clean up the living room.
The three had been living at The Burrow since their departure from Hogwarts. Molly had received letters from Professor Umbridge saying that the three didn't complete their last year and would not be receiving their certificate to say they had completed high school. Molly just sighed and folded up the letters and put them on the kitchen counter to be taken out with the recycling bin. Arthur had read Fred and George's when he came home from work and had a similar reaction to Molly; sighing deeply and asking if Blair knew what she was getting herself into. The Weasleys had no say in what Blair did as she was of legal age in the Wizarding world and they weren't related to her in any way. They could only nod and ensure that their sons would take care of Blair because of their intrusive influence on her decision.
Umbridge's letters had smelt of fruit tea and were a pale pink, making the twins and Blair cringe when Molly pulled them out of their envelopes. It had stated that their things would be packed and sent via the Floo Network. This had made them uneasy as they hoped that Umbridge hadn't personally looked through their things. All the prototypes and products that the twins had left in their dorms were bound to anger the woman who had been the butt of their joke for a majority of the year. But Molly heard of their concerns and said,
"If that cow has searched through your personal belongings, I will march down to that school and make sure the Minister for Magic is there watching as I turn her nose into a wasp!"
Molly had heard of the medieval detentions Umbridge had given out to nearly every student at Hogwarts and developed an immediate disliking for the woman. Even though she hadn't met Umbridge in person, hearing that she had engraved words forcefully into her children's, Harry's and Blair's skin was enough to loathe her entirely.
Currently, the twins and Blair continued down the slope towards a particular shop just metres away from the famous Ollivanders. Blair was staring at all the other stores that lined the walls either side of the alley, seeing that each was full with browsing magic folk. George had his fingers firmly wrapped around Blair's wrist as he followed after his twin, the two wearing the same green coats and looking identical right down to the last ginger freckle. Blair huffed at the descend of the hill and lazily flopped her trainer-covered feet down the stones, wishing to be back at The Burrow that she had grown to adore.
"Now Blair, we haven't discussed this yet-" George started as he came to a stop, Fred behind him and ready to finish his sentences.
"-but we've had our own brotherly conversations about your living quarters-"
"-and its only courteous to let you pick your own room!"
"M-My own room?" Blair repeated. "You mean..."
Blair finally caught sight of a bright orange framed window that sat on her right, making her turn her head and see the huge shop. Weasley Wizard Wheezes was the brightest shop on the block and was yet to be filled with rows and rows of displays and products. There were no words along the front but Blair knew that the twins would soon get to working on the outside, adding to the bright orange paint that would draw in pass-byers.
"This is it..." Blair muttered and turned to face the shop completely, the twins next to her doing the same with wide grins on their faces.
"Yep!" George chirped, slipping his arm around her shoulders and pressing her against his side. "This is it! It's ours! A bit more paint and then we can start filling up the store!"
"And there's a flat upstairs that we're all going to live in together," Fred continued. "Come on, we'll show you."
Letting George pull her into the empty shop, Blair stared at the bare walls that silenced the continuous bustling of shoppers outside. Many turned and eyed the nameless shop that hadn't yet been filled before continuing on with their day, remembering to look into who could possibly want a bright orange shop in the middle of the busy area. They were too polite to press their faces against the windows to see who was wandering around inside, leaving them to suffer the curiosity about the ghastly complex.
The interior was bare with beige stairs leading up to what Blair presumed was the mentioned flat. Another floor could be seen from the top of the stairs that was also bare, but had shelves that were waiting to be filled with Weasley goods. But the real anticipation was for what lay behind the door that sat on the second floor.
After climbing the stairs and Fred pulling out a single silver key, the door was pushed open and brought to light another bare room. Only this one had kitchen counters and cupboards that hung on the wall. The supposed kitchen leads into another room that was yet to be labelled, but would usually be turned into a living with a coffee table and a collection of sofas and armchairs. It was spacious and a hallway could be seen leading into another set of rooms, making the flat that measly square metre smaller than the shop downstairs. The place was huge and being in the centre of the most visited shopping complex in Britain, the location was perfect.
"We're planning to take the entire kitchen out and make it into a miniature Quidditch pitch," George announced, flicking his hand distastefully at the counters and cupboards.
"You are not doing that! Where will you cook and eat?" Blair questioned, still in awe of huge place.
"We don't cook. We'll just head home for meals and such. Otherwise it's those instant noodles that Lee gave us that one time," Fred shrugged and moved past her, heading towards the hallway to present the bedrooms for Blair to choose from.
"This is mine," Fred exclaimed once they reached the first door, not needing to open it as it would only reveal four walls that were to be painted a lime green in a few weeks. Three doors were left, one being an already installed bathroom.
"That one's mine."
That left one door that sat next to the one George pointed at. Blair turned towards it and grabbed the handle, choosing to look inside despite knowing that it wouldn't be any different from the rest of the flat. She pushed the door open and it was exactly as she expected; four plain walls that were a light beige. A window sat in the corner showing the alley below that was beginning to thin out, leaving spaces between crowds where the cobbled path was seen. The room was again, decently sized and enough for a young girl like Blair.
"So?" Fred drew out, causing her to turn around and see the two leaning in through the door frame.
"You said I could choose a room. This is the only one left," Blair tried, raising an eyebrow at the two.
"Well we can change what was going to be the living room into your bedroom, of course. You can have that trendy and unstructured vibe," George suggested, showing her a goofy grin. But it fell when Blair glanced around the room once more with a blank look. "You really don't like it?"
"It's not that I don't like it..." she trailed off, eyeing all the corners of the room for some flaw she could use as an excuse. "I just..."
Fred slipped away from the door to leave George to talk to her privately. It was clear that Blair's reaction was unexpected and causing his brother to become nervous, so Fred found it best to head back towards the main part of the flat. With his audience now gone, George stepped into the room and stopped behind Blair who was still observing the walls. It was obvious that something was wrong, but George didn't feel like it was because of the style of the room itself. It was something that he would have to figure out from the general aura of Blair. But with him being a teenage boy who barely understood female emotions and anatomy, that was near impossible.
"What's wrong?" he asked, taking hold of her forearms and turning her around to face him. "Is it really that bad?"
"No," she shook her head and sighed. She put her hand to her forehead and stared at the buttons that lined his dragon skin coat. "I think it's the idea of moving into somewhere else other than Hogwarts. I suppose it's a daunting change from the orphanage as well as the castle. Is that weird?"
"It's not weird at all. But I guess I can't relate to it because I'll be with Freddie," George jabbed his thumb towards the general direction of the living room. He gave her an understanding smile and reached up to brush the collection of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. Her face had nearly been pulled into a pout, making George want to chuckle at her childlike manner. But he knew that she was conflicted and decided that it wouldn't be right to change the subject to her adorable appearance. He needed to make her feel comfortable and allow her to see that it wasn't as big of a change as she thought it was.
"How about-" his voice dropped low, a shade off from being a whisper as he leaned closer so that their noses touched. "-you move into my room for the first period. And then if you feel comfortable enough, you can move into this one. We can even paint it if you want."
The idea seemed to make Blair perk up from her pouting state. It was odd to think that she had once been closed off and antisocial because of her isolating tendencies, only to now feel her insides bubble and warm at the mention of living in the same room as her boyfriend. But she hadn't lost her independence. She simply feared she would start to slip back into her cold ways and find it hard to come out of again. She'd hate to push George away like she used to. Of course she'd see him and Fred when she left her room and she obviously had her own dorm room without them back at Hogwarts. But having a room alone at the orphanage had caused her to miss her friends unnecessarily. The walls were thick and a barrier for her. She had worked so hard to break out of that and be happy not only for her friends, but for herself as well.
"I'd like that," the words left her lips before her mind fool-proofed them. But a smile followed that resembled a child's who babbled something unintelligible, only to beam at the first adult that looked at them. It showed that Blair didn't want to take the words back, making George grin once more and feel his skin glow at her content.
"Great," he replied and went down to peck her lips, only to jump back when a loud gasp escaped them instead.
"What is it?!"
"I left the Quidditch team without a Chaser!" she exclaimed, cupping her mouth with her palm at the sudden realisation. "And I left Poppy, Mina and Nancy without telling them we were leaving! I'm an awful friend!"
"I let Goldstein know. I knew telling Roger wouldn't be the calmest affairs," he laughed at her wide eyes. "They'll just have to find another Chaser. I'm sure they'll be fine without you. Ravenclaw was at the top of the ladder when we left anyway. As for the girls, I'm sure they'd understand."
Blair gave him a look that said 'do-you-really-think-Ravenclaws-are-understanding-enough-to-forgive-their-friend-who-dropped-out-of-school-without-a-word?', making George swallow with his cheeks flushing an adorable tinge of red.
"M-Maybe not then. But who cares?!" he tried to cheer, throwing his arms up in an 'oh well' gesture. "It's your life. You do what you want with it."
"Well it can't be helped now," she sighed and ran her hand down her face, her skin pulling down in a semi-gruesome way. "By the way, if I'm going to be living here, I am NOT having the kitchen replaced with a Quidditch pitch. I'll cook if I have to."
"Did I ever tell you that I love you, sweetheart?"